The present invention pertains generally to cleated athletic shoes and more particularly to an improved arrangement and structure of cleats integrally molded with the outer sole of the shoe.
The prior art includes numerous examples of cleating arrangements on the sole of athletic shoes. In most cases, the cleats on a particular sole are of a uniform shape, whereas, in some cases, cleats of more than one type are provided. U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,840, of Robert P. Minihane, issued Nov. 2, 1976, is an example of a sole structure having cleats of two different types including uniformly spaced frustoconical cleats in the ball and heel areas and spaced peripheral cleats at the edges of the sole. In accordance with an important aspect of the Minihane patent, the peripheral cleats are shorter than the frustoconical cleats. The sole described by the Minihane patent was specifically designed for use on artificial turf and it was noted that the design of a sole for use on a natural surface is not necessarily the best design for use on a synthetic surface.
It would be desirable to provide a cleated sole structure which performs well on both synthetic and natural surfaces and yet is light in weight, durable, and inexpensive to fabricate.